Poland advances in Global Information Technology Report

Finland, Switzerland, Sweden, Israel, Singapore, the Netherlands and the United States are leading the world when it comes to generating economic impact from investments in information and communication technologies (ICT), according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Information Technology Report 2016. Poland came in 42nd place in the report, scoring 4.5, where 7 is the best and 1 the worst. Last year, it ranked 50th. "Europe remains at the technology frontier; seven of the top 10 NRI countries are European. Yet the performance range is wide, with Greece dropping four places to 70th position and Bosnia and Herzegovina closing the group at number 97. Several Eastern European countries, notably the Slovak Republic, Poland and the Czech Republic, are making big strides, landing spots in the NRI top 50. Better affordability and large improvements in economic and social impacts are making major contributions to this success," a press release read. Poland ranks highest (11) in the "affordability pillar," which assesses the cost of accessing ICT, either via mobile telephones or fixed broadband internet, as well as the level of competition in the internet and telephone sectors that determine this cost. At the other end is the "social impact pillar," which is aimed at assessing the ICT driven improvements in wellbeing thanks to its impacts in the environment, education, energy consumption, health progress or more active civil participation. Poland ranks 70th in this category.